While the Wagner chief has been exiled to Belarus, and the treason charges have essentially been forgiven - with the mutiny case closed - he strongly hinted that corruption charges could be on the horizon, given Wagner had received billions in state funds.

Importantly, the Russian President also stressed that the nation's armed forces and security services had stopped a "civil war" - which is the first such dramatic reference made by Putin to this worst-case scenario. "You have de-facto stopped the civil war, you acted in a clear and well-coordinated manner in a difficult situation," Putin said during the ceremony at the Kremlin's Cathedral Square. "We did not have to remove combat detachments from the special military operation zone" in Ukraine, he said.

He also confirmed that Russian air forces pilots had been killed. Wagner had previously claimed to have shot down helicopters during the Friday through Saturday turmoil, and that the Russian military had fired on its positions and convoys. Subsequent reports in the West tallied six helicopters and a plane that were shot down, but this total hasn't been confirmed from Moscow. But it's now been revealed in international reports that at least 12 Russian pilots were killed as Wagner convoys made their way to Moscow Saturday, before the armed "march" was called off. Wagner possesses sophisticated anti-aircraft weapons.